AV artist Charlie Buckley-Benjamin creates a nostalgic yet otherworldy visual that presents new possibilities from archives of the past.
In the 50-minute visual made to accompany Síbín Vol. 1, a charity compilation featuring exclusive collaborations between artists including Mica Levi & Tirzah (as Taz & Meeks), Fatima & KwAkE and Joe Armon-Jones & Kofi Stone, AV artist Charlie Buckley-Benjamin (aka shauwdii) collages found footage, archive pieces and first-hand recordings, responding to the same question posed to the musicians that contributed to the album: What does identity mean to you?
“When Anja (Ngozi, the project’s curator) proposed identity and culture as a theme for this project I had a think, and personally I have been interested more in ‘lack of definition’ and the attachments we have to these categories of self such as race/ class/ gender/sexuality etc,” Buckley-Benjamin explains. “I want my work as a whole to dismantle it a little, so I wanted to create visuals which present new possibilities from archives of the past – things that feel nostalgic but otherworldly like an in-between space.
“My solace was music videos when I was young and I always had this idea of carefully obtaining and editing together some of the corniest and forced moments of intimacy I could find in the R&B genre to create a loop serving as examples of how the past taught us to love through movement.”
The project was curated by Ngozi and supported by Lexy Morvaridi, both of whom worked on The Vinyl Factory’s Untitled (18 Artists) project in 2019, to show the importance of community and collaboration. “As amazing as we are as individuals there’s also another power that comes from working together and acting from a community mindset,” Ngozi says.
Síbín Vol. 1 is available on Bandcamp. Proceeds from the compilation will be split between The Black Curriculum, a UK-based social enterprise whose mission is to embed the teaching of Black British History within the national curriculum, and Blackfriars Settlement, a Southwark-based community organisation.
Síbín Vol. 1 tracklist:
Fatima & KwAkE – ‘I.D CanAlterRareDiscriptionS’
Lord Byron & Ben Hixon – ‘NBA’
Natty Wylah – ‘dangL d0wn’
Joe Armon-Jones & Kofi Stone – ‘Save Me
Oliver Palfreyman & Goya Gumbani – ‘TOSH!
Taz & Meeks – ‘burp’
Daisuke Tanabe – ‘muddy puppy’
Phoebs & Anja Ngozi & Isobella Burnham – ‘friday after next’
MA.MOYO X Marysia Osu – ‘MOTHERSHIP’
Wu-Lu ft. Temesgen – ‘Wickedness Devide’
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